When you look into bee breeding and genetics you quickly realise how challenging it can be. Bees mate on the wing and queens mate with multiple drones. Controlling both the maternal and paternal lines is very tricky with honey bees.
I’ve been thinking about bees and beekeeping. Most people who know me have figured out that bees occupy 95% of my brain, although other things sometimes make an appearance. Arsenal FC once took up much more brain than it now does; it was downhill after Vieira left. I […]
In 2005 some researchers studying matings in the Hope Valley (England) found out some interesting stats on mating distance. Mating distance is the distance between the hive from which the virgin queen flew and the colonies from which the successful drones came. 50% of matings were at a […]
Humans (and walruses) are part of the natural world. We are animals. Sometimes we like to set ourselves aside from nature as if we are not part of it, but this is wrong. However, there is no denying the powerful and often damaging impact that homo sapiens have […]
It’s a dog’s life I have always struggled with the idea that there are sub-species of honey bees but not dogs. A chihuahua is a tiny dog, and a great Dane is enormous. There are many differences between these two animals, and yet all dogs are the same species, and there […]
In the Winter of 2017, I met Murray McGregor, owner of Denrosa Apiaries, based in Coupar Angus, Scotland and was delighted to be able to spend over a day with him. He carefully chooses his words and takes his time answering questions, making sure that his encyclopaedic knowledge, […]
